47 thoughts on “Redditors with “jobstopping” tattoos (face,hand,neck) how have they actually affected you?”

Had a guy interview with “I love when my pills kick in” tattooed across his neck.. That was interesting.. Very persistent questioning about the drug testing policy.. That’s what pushed it to a hard no.

The best face-tattoo I ever saw was a juvinile in a prison. He had tattooed the sides of his face, where someone might have mutton-chops. The right hand side of his face said “TEXAS” the left hand said “BREAD”

Texas Bread.

Now what he wanted to say was “Texas Bred” Now he’ll spend the rest of his life with people thinking he’s wild about thick toast.

I have a 1/2 sleeve from the elbow down on my left arm, and a full sleeve on my right arm. They have only affected me in one interview.

Had to go through 3 diff interviews for a cook job at a military retirement home. I was fresh out of the military at the time as well. Met with the manager, the lone cook in the galley who i would be training with/replacing, and the owners of this place.

Mentioned to all i had tatts, even showed them. They loved my background work (military cook for 8 years) everyone told me tatts were not an issue. I would be in the kichen 6 days a week for 8-11 hour shifts by myself. Great pay good benefits.

Got a call from their hr to come and do paperwork for drug test and then the job is mine. I was already in town so i stopped by in a t-shirt. Hr asks about the tatts, i inform her they’ve already been vetted by so and so including the owners. She explains she will not hire me because i have ink in my skin. So i left. Called the owners and explained.

They called me back a few days latwr but by then i already had my current job I’ve had for almost 5 years now.

I have hand and knuckle tattoos and teach art to children K-12. I tend to believe any issues would result from controversial tattoo subject matter, not the location itself. But I also live in NYC, our appearance standards might be atypical, and I’m teaching art, so…

Since almost no one actually mentions having face, neck or hand tattoos, I’ll chime in. I am heavily tattooed. This includes both hands and all five fingers on each. I recently got the side of my neck tattooed as well. These aren’t “name on my finger” tattoos either. I have bold, visible, traditional tattoos all over my body.

I’ve always been into tattoos and I started collecting when I was in college. My wife and I travel the country getting tattooed and the culture has become a huge part of my life. Tattooing my hands was a big decision and I didn’t make it lightly by any means. You are fooling yourself if you don’t acknowledge the potential for missed opportunities because of your visible tattoos.

That being said, I work at a well paying corporate job. I’ve never experienced any issues as far as I know. It’s funny because I can get a job at basically any tech startup I want, but I definitely couldn’t get hired at Walmart thanks to how I look.

It’s all about where you are in life. Don’t tattoo your hands and face at 18 then wonder why you can’t find a job. Be smart about it.

In my home town there was a “radio contest” offering 50k a year for life of anyone who got the stations call letters tattooed on their face. Two idiots took them up on it. Not only did it result in the firing of the two station DJs that put it out there without approval, but the station didn’t pay up. Guys took them to court, won a small settlement. Years later a friend’s uncle and Aunt were sent to prison because they lived next door to one of the contest guys. Apparently he couldn’t get a girlfriend or keep a job and was drunk and talking suicide, so uncle tries to strangle him to death. When the contest fella started fighting back and getting the upper hand in the fight, auntie started beating him on the head with frying pans.

Oh, about a year or two after the “contest” station changed call letters and format.

Have one around my wrist. Long sleeve shirt or a watch with a wide band covers it up.

Worked in different fields around the U.S. since I’ve had it. Transportation, construction, software, management, even a while in a church. Not one job has asked me to cover it up, but it’s easy to do so.

So many people have told me it would cause problems though, and I always loved the ‘how do you think you’ll feel when you’re 80 and it’s all wrinkly?’

Well, first…it’ll mean I made it to 80, so that’s awesome. Second, I can’t imagine really caring about it at 80. If it bothers you that my tattoo is wrinkly then, well you can just stay off my lawn.

Did a murder trial where the judge allowed us to cover the face and hand tattoos of our client. I was the baby lawyer, so my job was to do the dude’s makeup every morning of trial. He finally started doing it himself because he didn’t trust my technique.

My dad retired as a intermediate school principal in small town Texas. He had military tattoos on his arms to the point where he always had to wear long sleeves. He definitely had “ragrets” about those tats. Esp. the ones he got after WWII in Japan… He never could remember what they meant.

I have a [science-themed tattoo](https://imgur.com/gallery/u4bwx) from my neck all the way down my forearm. I’m a research scientist and grad school professor at a great university and there haven’t been any issues so far.

My friend was passed up for a promotion because she has tattoos on her knuckles. She didn’t lose her job, just didn’t get promoted. My tattoos have never effected my job applications but I don’t have anything not hidden by a long sleeve shirt and my hair down (if my hair was up you could see one and usually my bosses/ coworkers compliment it or ignore it).

One of my best friends was a tattoo artist. She tattooed flowers on the side of her face, and had her hands done. She totally pulled the look off and it worked because she was in a tattoo shop. However, her shop went under, and she needed more stable of an income while trying to get in to another shop. She couldn’t get past a job interview to save her life. She is super charismatic, but those tattoos really gave her hell. I also have spent 5 years working in prison re-entry. I would set inmates up with non profits for tattoo removal. Most were interested, however the ones that kept their face tattooed basically set their life up to come back to prison. I had one guy who was a very nice person, but tattooed his whole face in gang symbols and words. He wanted to become a residential electrician. I said no one will hire you because you’re scary. He kept insisting he would show everyone how nice he was, like that’s how the world works.

I have two full tattoo sleeves down to my wrists. I was always told it would be an issue depending on what field I went into. I’m a teacher now.

Some interviews I went on cared, and those are the schools I wouldn’t want to teach in anyway because they don’t have my shared values. I work for a fairly progressive school now, and as long as there is nothing inappropriate tattoos don’t matter.

I have all of my fingers and the backs of both of my hands tattooed. Just about to start a new job teaching 2-3 year olds. I’m sure it depends on where you live, but at least where I am nobody seems to care anymore.

I was actually talking with my co-worker about this. We, at the corporate headquarters of a large southern corporation. Either of us, has never seen an employee with a tattoo. I’m not sure if its in the company policy or something. I’m sure some have some they just cover them. But worked here for like 3 years, never seen a tattoo.

So, I would say it depends on the company. Southern or Traditional companies I would say are still very against tattoos. But a place like Google. Can’t see it being a problem.

One of my mom’s old customers has tattoos coving nearly every inch of his body. Face included. He’s a really nice guy. His story was, his parents wanted him to get an office job ao he tattooed his face to guarantee he never had an office job. Runs a pretty successful construction business

I have a tattoo on my middle finger (says “Avada Kedavra” the Harry Potter killing curse) and one on my lower forearm but so low it almost goes onto my hand.

Its never kept me from a job as far as I know but I specifically cover the arm one in interviews with a watch/long sleeve.

Ive never been asked if I have any tattoos

HOWEVER I have denied applicants who have neck tattoos, not because I personally care but because I accept students for a job training in health care and I know they are strict so I don’t want people to waste their time if I know they wont get hired.

I’ve got one on the back of my left hand that I’m in the process of getting removed ($50 for the damn thing and $360 so far getting rid of it 8 years later).

Honestly, it hasn’t really affected me much up to now, surprisingly. A lot of people have commented on how much they liked it or thought it was cool. I haven’t been turned down for a job because of it, **but** in a few months I’ll be leaving for a job in Japan and it absolutely has to be gone by then. A tattoo on the back of the hand is stupid in America, but it’s an absolute no-go in Japan (as with any other visible tattoo).

As it turns out, idiot 18 year old me never expected that I’d end up on my current path, and also for some reason thought that a hand tattoo was something future employers would overlook…

I used to work in the unemployment office. One day, I had a young lady (maybe 22-23?) come in for her appointment to collect her money.

She had an enormous tattoo on her chest. We’re talking a solid five inches across, full colour, centred on her sternum and spreading out over her breasts. It was a front facing tiger’s head, roaring, surrounded by various jungle leaves and “stuff”. As far as quality, I would class it a 6/10 tattoo. Not terrible, decent lines and all, but not particularly awesome from an artistic standpoint. The location in particular made it feel tackier than it would have been if it were on a shoulder or thigh or whatever.

Anyway. I glance at this lady’s tattoo once or twice during the meeting. I’m a 22-ish year old lady myself at this point. I’m not thinking anything in particular, beyond a mild “I wonder how many employers will look past that…” While we make normal small talk.

She gets up, leaves. An hour or so later my supervisor approaches me.

Tiger tit lady has called in. She’s claiming I was horrifically rude to her, openly mocked her tattoo and told her she would never find a job anywhere, and she wants me fired. None of it is true.

Godspeed to you, tiger tit lady. Your tattoo might have turned off some employers, but I bet your behaviour will turn off more!

I have tattoos on the back of my left hand and on my fingers, and a chest piece up to just above my collar bone. I have an M.A. and work in a medical practice and no one ever really mentions it – I get mild curiosity, if anything. I wear long sleeves and conservative necklines to interviews, but people have been totally pleasant about it so far.

Interviewers here in Mexico tend to be very discriminative towards people with visible tattoos. Call centers are the only places that kinda don’t care, to hire you, but in order to promote you, you better be really good and sort of willing to hide them if/when promoted.

fortunately, it’s just becoming more and more accepted in the corporate world. lucky enough for me i have a job where i don’t have any limitations as to what i can look like (i’m in custom framing), but every time i’ve had a job interview i just wear long sleeves.

I’ve been applying to law enforcement positions and trying to start a career in it. Most departments want to know if you have tattoos just to know if they are offensive and require you to keep them all covered. There was one, sorry I can’t remember where, that said they do not allow any tattoos. I remember them being incredibly selective though so even without the tattoos I would have been disqualified from recruitment.

[Tops of my hands, knuckles, sleeves, both sides of my neck and my throat are all covered.](https://i.imgur.com/d43PiHt.jpg) Doesn’t effect me in the least. I’m a high end custom tile setter and work in multi-million dollar homes on a daily basis. Homeowners and contractors(mostly older) are sometimes a little offput at first, but then generally love me shortly thereafter. I’m polite, well spoken, and very good at my job. Those traits matter a lot more than how I look.

I also have my ears stretched and eyebrows pierced(for nearly 20 years now). Some of my kid’s friends are scared of my though. I live in San Diego, where tattoos and piercings may be more common than not having any.

I don’t have any that would be considered jobstoppers, but my arms and legs are covered. I wear short sleeves and shorts almost every day (print shop, central Texas). I also got most of my tattoos after i started there, so everyone (boss included) wanted to see the new ink.

My wife has one on the back of her neck, she just keeps her hair down. A cuff bracelet can cover her wrist, and socks or tights cover her foot if she’s wearing open shoes. She’s an admin assistant for a bank.

Honestly i think it really depends on where you live and what you do. I don’t expect a lawyer to have a face tattoo, but a blue collar worker wouldn’t phase me at all.

Not on my hand, but I have a tattoo on my forearm of a pawprint and some autumn leaves around it as a memorial for my dog that passed in 2014. When I interviewed for my current job, they never noticed that I had it since I was wearing a long sleeve, but when they saw it, I was told to cover it up. I don’t mind, cause most of the year I’m cold and during the summer the building I work in is too cold from the a.c. I also have a beige colored sleeve that I can cover it up if I don’t want to wear a long sleeve shirt.